


Remnants Of An Era Gone By

by nanasheeeh



Category: Hakuouki, 琅琊榜 | Nirvana in Fire (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fusion, Blood and Gore, Crossover, Crossovers & Fandom Fusions, Demons, Fluff and Angst, Gen, Heavy Angst, NO HAKUOUKI KNOWLEDGE NEEDED, Ochimizu | Water of Life (Hakuouki), Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Timeline What Timeline
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-03-25
Updated: 2019-03-25
Packaged: 2019-12-07 14:36:08
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,365
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18236216
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nanasheeeh/pseuds/nanasheeeh
Summary: Lin Chen's family suffered because of it's demon ancestry. It should only be right he should prevent such tragedy in the future.A Hakuouki x Nif crossover where Lin Chen is a demon, Mei Changsu is a badass vampire-zombie hybrid and everything is still sad. There's also glowing eyes, regenerative abilities and hair color changes. I promise it just sounds silly because I suck at summaries.





	Remnants Of An Era Gone By

**Author's Note:**

  * For [liuet](https://archiveofourown.org/users/liuet/gifts).



> Not so much of a crossover as much as just borrowing some aspects. In other words there are some Haku plot tidbits but mostly it's just historical easter eggs so knowledge of the other show isn't needed. 
> 
> The Haku timeline is a big big mess that doesn't line up with Nif so just humor me and forget what year it's supposed to be. 
> 
> I may have been a bit too generous with parallels but being self indulgent does that. It's not every day I get to merge my two big loves.
> 
> Apart from there definitely being lots and lots of suffering (Haku fans think that time Toshi had a hand holding session with Sannan and Heisuke) I honestly can't really say what this is? It's an emotional mess and you get an actual badass MCS that could probably singlehandedly beat Xia Jiang's ass into oblivion, that's bound to be worth something.
> 
>  
> 
> Further A/N that I'm putting here because it clogs the tags: This is a dash of Hakumyu and 04 because I like pain a bit too much, is2g it won't all be flower references please don't run away. Shinsengumi easter eggs galore. If you thought I wouldn't compare Toshi and Changsu you were wrong. Due to pesky timelines this round we actually have an era with no guns, no doubt this would make some people happy. Watch me make an entire collection of LC knows Japanese, starting with this and soaring off to Mononoke land.

 

“Master Lin.”

The tension in the room is so high the air seems to crackle with electricity. All the servants cower as far away from their supervisor’s desk as possible, watching him foam.

_“Where did you get this?”_

Lin Chen is staring at the small glass bottle on the table before him, clenching the hem of his clothes so tightly his fingers may break. The messenger remains quiet, hesitating. “I said, where did you get this!?”

“Master, master please don't be angry. It was just sent by one of our sources near the mountains. He sent a message as well.” The servant extends his hand and Lin Chen snatches the paper scroll away from him with the air of an enraged lion.

_Chiyan army. Tests. Battle. Cliff Mei._

For a moment Lin Chen allows himself to breathe, enough not to pass out from holding his breath. He'd heard rumors the court had planned some miracles to create an invincible army, but he'd never gotten enough information to suspect the cause of it was _this_.

Father died for this foolery. For someone else's greed. Lin Chen couldn't let that person go unpunished. He couldn't let them roam around taking more lives. “Prepare the usual group for travel. We leave at once.”

Lin Chen stood up, leaving no room for argument. He stashed the glass bottle away and headed to his room, leaving the people remaining to fend for themselves. Outside the winter was in full swing, biting cold pinching his cheeks as he made his way down the hallway. Lin Chen gathered the basic necessities with practiced care. He’d went out enough times on short notice to know what and how to pack. It wouldn't take long to reach Cliff Mei at their standard speed. The answers he sought would be within reach soon.

On his way back out Lin Chen halted, gaze falling upon a sword father had left him. It was a magnificent artefact, nestled into a black, lacquered sheath encased in gold. A red knot hung from the end of the hilt, billowing slightly in the wind coming through the open door. Apart from Lin Chen's blood it was the last remnant of the demonic presence his ancestors had brought to the land.

Before his untimely death Father would travel a lot in search of new medicine and knowledge. The Lin family lived after all, for the purpose of passing down information to the younger generations, ensuring the evolution of their lives.

Some years ago Father came upon rumors of a demon roaming the mountains.Instead of an actual demon he met a fake – a bandit leader well known for his skills of using a spear –and received from the man a warning and the memories of an era gone by. The man had heard there were demons in this land where he had traveled far from his home. He wanted to tell them of a terrible concoction someone in his own native land had made. A potion that created fake demons like him. His friends were used by it he said, friends now all dead, except for one or two. It was made into a weapon of greed that would unwillingly take lives of those who had a taste. The inhuman power they gained was only borrowed and in time the price for it would be their lives cut short. The bandit leader presented Father with a small flask – the last sample of the drug secured before it disappeared deeper into the land towards the capital. He’d hoped that no more people would suffer from it if he left it in the old man’s hands.

During that same travel circumstances had forced Father to take the treacherous drug, turning him into something half mad, half sane, eventually killing him by draining his strength away.

Lin Chen vowed from that day on no one else would experience the consequences of such an invention if he had the power to stop it and he had spent money and men trying to unearth the tracks of trade that had gone cold. The project did more bad than good. Within months the investigation reached a dead end somewhere in the vastness of _jianghu_ connections and whatever hope of finding the remaining formula Lin Chen kept vanished alongside it. He'd lost the belief of ever hearing it mentioned again. Until today.

Lin Chen curls his fingers around the night black sheath. In the back of his mind a theory is already formed, but he can't confirm it yet. Not until he sees the reality of the situation with his own two eyes. Those same eyes light ablaze with a golden hue and he feels unearthly power slowly speed up its course through his veins. What was started by demons, should be ended by demons.

It's closure that he seeks he tells himself when they reach the mountain’s foot and ready the horses  - closure, not vengeance.

* * *

The smell of rotten bodies and curdled blood wafts through the air before they even see the battlefield. Heavy rocks obscure the view, slowly easing in the urgency panic brings. Around him the attendants cautiously step over frozen soil, keenly on the lookout for anything trying to harm them. _It has been long enough_ , Lin Chen thinks. With days past whatever survived would have already crawled out of that hell. It was no longer likely they would find many bloodthirsty fiends here. Still as he nears the crack in the rocks to take him out into the open, his step slow and his senses flare up, alert. A low growl reaches Lin Chen’s ears as soon as he passes and something slick with blood takes hold of his ankle ferociously.

_There you are._

A mop of white hair and red, senseless eyes gape up at him, moaning with nothing more but a base instinct of hunger. Lin Chen hisses and closes his eyes but all he sees is Father tangled in wrinkled sheets, digging into his mattress with the same lifeless expression on his face. The soldier glued to Lin Chen's leg pulls himself closer slowly, mouth stretched open wide, teeth ready to sink in.

_Nothing but a need for destruction._

Lin Chen pulls out his sword. He stares absentmindedly at the dirty row of teeth hovering a breath away from his skin. _Hesitation, pity, sadness._ Just enough for him not to only feel disgust. The polished steel falls down in a flash, stilling the remaining life in the beating heart of the former human below. _It's the perpetrators you should hate and the victims who you should pity._ “Scatter around, look for survivors.” What a dumb thing to say. Anyone remaining alive would have been slaughtered by the mindless monsters by now. “If you find any of them transformed, kill them.”

The group under his command nods in unison, spreading out across the sea of crimson. Lin Chen moves on from the corpse, leaving some of his bitterness behind with it.

That man, did he have a family? A wife and children? Was there a forgotten lover still waiting for him to come back?

Pieces of cloth and stripped armour line the ground, creating a maze he has to navigate to reach the other end. Flesh torn off bones and limbs hacked to pieces turn his stomach around despite the long years of injuries he's used to seeing. Something sparklers in the distance, hit by the orange sunset rays and Lin Chen recognizes it as the commander's helmet. Chiyan army…

_Oh._

The notion is far too late to do him any good. Lin Chen's mind backtracks, and he recalls there was once a man in Father's life who belonged into such a group. Lin Xie had been the most loyal of friends before Father's fate forced them to break contact, stranding the army commander on an island of unanswered questions.

Lin Chen kneels beside the headgear, recognizing the smeared face next to it as that of it’s owner. The dead man's eyes are still open, lifeless but strangely focused towards the nearby edge of the cliff. Lin Chen lifts his hand and closes them softly, arranging the body in a more respectable position. Lin Xie doesn't seem to have drunk the terrible drug that ate up one's sanity, but he was most certainly beaten to death by the rest of its slaves.

_Was he protecting someone or...was he the one being protected?_

A second glance around tells Lin Chen the last person in the equation is missing. Lin Xie's remains have no weapons nearby, yet he seems to have perished more due to exhaustion than injury. Who then, had shielded him if both of the assailants at his side went mad?

Lin Chen turns, studies the edge of the cliff and the trampled muddy snow. During the short distance over from where he’s crouching to the edge, the wind that had been lying low starts to howl, stirring up snowflakes. A broken looking body lies on the ledge a few feet below, buried in ice and snow. It's not much to go on as an identifier, except for the vague armour and helmet shapes.

“Rope!” Lin Chen calls loudly. “Bring me rope!”

One of the men brings the required object, securing it to a nearby boulder. Lin Chen doesn't wait to answer any questions or heed warnings.  He's already lowering himself down. The physician’s boots sink into soft snow, dispersing the sound of his landing. Lin Chen flips the sprawled form around, senses no sign of life or hostility from it by inspecting it visually and proceeds to tie it to the rope. _This is_ _L_ _in_ _X_ _ie's son._ He knows because Father told him about the boy, he knows because he sees the delicate embroidery on the uniform, he knows because the bracelet with Lin Shu's name is still frozen solid to its owner’s hand. Lin Chen will bury him with his father. He will bury them all like has has buried his predecessor and he will find the person pulling the strings. The power-hungry sinner that had continued to spread this curse after it's first wave of appearance died down.

Lin Shu looks small curled up into a ball at the jagged rocky edge. Insignificant in the sight of all the other loses. Lin Chen sighs and bites back tears. It's the wind making his eyes itchy, the smoke from fires long put out. He'd already promised not to cry at someone else's deathbed.

“Get the fallen ready. Not a single scrap should remain behind.”

Lin Chen steps forward to help. Moving the dead will take some time and they have nothing but their superhuman strength to thank if they wish to complete everything before the sun dips below the horizon. The four men with him all have demon blood in their veins. They are all aware of the catalyst behind these scenes. Father made sure all of Langya hall and its descendants knew the truth in time.

“Aah.”

Behind Lin Chen's retreating figure Lin Shu's body moves. Weak hands grab the dirt looking for support and the man presumed dead hesitantly drags himself to his knees. Lin Chen is brandishing his sword through the cold air before he even thinks. The sharp tip lands on Lin Shu's neck, digging into the skin to leave a small nick. The earth stills. Slowly but surely the wound on Lin Shu's neck begins to wane and the skin heals back into its unblemished, if dirty structure.

_He's one of them. No wonder he was able to protect his father so well._

Deep inside Lin Chen feels remorse over ending the life of this poor soul that had so valiantly held on. Lin Shu must have survived by merit of more than just the newly attained regenerative abilities he'd gained. However, he cannot stay among the living. Sooner or later, perhaps any second now, madness will consume him, turning him into nothing more but a wandering bringer of death. Lin Chen lifts his sword back up. The heart or the head - if he strikes there he can kill him and all of this will end. It will go away and be forgotten, carried only by absence of loss.

At his feet Lin Shu still struggles to get up. His whole body shakes so badly Lin Chen isn't sure how the youthful form is keeping its balance. But the Young Marshal's ghost persists. Inch by inch, ragged breath by breath the boy rises, steadies himself on two legs and becomes a man. Lin Shu gazes into Lin Chen's eyes. Two glowing red orbs staring into brown ones that transition into gold.

For a while no one moves and expect for the wind in his ears and the heart skipping beats in his chest Lin Chen notices nothing but Lin Shu. Those blood red eyes do not hold insanity. They overflow with hunger, but that hunger is more than just the desire to sink teeth into flesh. It is determination, resolution, the plea not to give into instincts a thoughtless mind brings.

 

Lin Chen doesn't notice when he puts the sword away. At some point Lin Shu loses that miraculous balance and trips forward right into his arms, unconscious. Lin Chen holds the frail, exhausted body in his arms. He recalls the same plea in Father's eyes, the spark that would not vanish until every last atom of his existence gave out, letting his body die rather than be used for evil.

Lin Chen still sees, vividly, the trial and error he'd gone through to try and find a cure before that finality settled into his parent's bones.

_I can't kill him. I should not kill him. There's enough hope left to at least save one soul._

Lin Shu is cold against his chest. He sucks away all the warmth Lin Chen gives off in the freezing weather and latches onto it like a candle grasping for air. Lin Chen's brows furrow, eyes continuing to glow gold and bright.

Lin Shu would survive. From now on no force on earth will have the right to ever snuff out that light within him.

 


End file.
